First on the list: “We were going down, we were going down a long way,” Trump said. “This is Trump’s description of the end of the Obama presidency. And off we go!”

ISIS had 70,000 fighters in the field and controlled an area larger than Ohio. The Taliban and others were ascendant in Afghanistan, and Iran and North Korea were flouting international arms control agreements.

The economy was in shambles – it was in its eighth straight year without achieving a quarter with 3 percent growth, and regulatory overreach threatened to strangle economic growth.

Then, Cillizza quoted Trump as saying, “The cutting of regulation and all of the many things that we’ve done, including being a cheerleader for the country – and perhaps that’s part of the reason I’m going to Davos also – but being a cheerleader for the country.”

“An interesting comment by Trump – and telling. He quite clearly puts considerable stock in the idea that the president must be a cheerleader,” Cillizza wrote. “It reminds of a story from the The New York Times that suggested Donald Trump Jr. approached Ohio Gov. John Kasich with an offer to be vice president – and a wide-ranging portfolio of responsibilities. What would the elder trump be in charge of, Kasich asked? “Making American great again,” was Don Jr.’s response.”

First, no one on the Kasich or Trump side confirmed he ever was offered the vice presidency with a large portfolio of duties. Mike Pence, who is a far more capable politician and whose ideology is far closer to Trump’s, does not play a major policy role.

Second, why, other than having written rapturously about President Obama for eight years, does Cillizza find it odd for a president to consider himself a cheerleader for his country? If he is not proud of it, who should be?

Later, Cillizza quotes Trump as saying, “One of the promises that you know is being very seriously negotiated right now is the wall, and the wall will happen.”

“Well, if you say so,” Cillizza wrote.

But Democrats and Republicans are currently attempting to work out a compromise on the DACA Dreamers that will likely lead to enough funding for Trump to complete more than 700 miles of the wall.

“We have different views, but the Democrats love our country,” Cillizza said.

Cillizza tells us the president is talking about the visa lottery system and chain migration. “And it speaks volumes that he says that if you don’t agree with his view on these two topics, you must not love America.”

That is precisely the opposite of Trump said.

“I won an election that should never be won because the Electoral College is far harder to win than the popular vote. The popular vote, for me, would have been much easier.”

“The 2016 election ended 429 days ago.”

He’s even pithier a few items later, when Trump said, “There has never been, in the history – in the history of an administration anybody that was more open than we were.”

“Uh,” Cillizza said.

The Trump administration is the most open in recent memory. The president’s tweets provide an insight into his day-to-day thinking Americans have never received from their president. Even Special Counsel Robert Mueller has said the Trump administration has been as cooperative as possible in turning over documents and making people available for interviews for his investigation.

Brian McNicoll

Brian McNicoll is Editor of Accuracy in Media. He is a former newspaper editor, think tank writer and Capitol Hill staffer, is a conservative writer and editor in Reston, Va.